1. Second Language Acquisition: Verbalization
Alex Griffin
April 2011

2. Acquisition vs. Learning
Acquisition: “Development of a skill, habit, or quality.”
No choice but to acquire the language.
Learning: “Become aware of something through information or observation.”
Conscious effort to learn.

3. First Language
… Must be learned before age 8. After this point it becomes increasingly difficult to wrap the mind around an entire language without having learned one as a foundation.
Helen Keller – articulate and able to convey complex thoughts.
13 year old girl isolated in a room by her father –able to name objects, unable to form basic sentences.
6 ½ year old girl trapped in grandfather’s house – a year and a half after she escaped she was able to use proper English and form complex sentences.

4. Wrapping Your Mind Around An Accent
Ayn Rand
Had a thick Russian accent even though she lived in the US for most of her life.
Incredible English writer
Could read and write in German, but couldn’t speak it.
Joseph Conrad was also an English writer but spoke with a thick accent.
Both had fluent comprehension and speech but their accents betrayed their heritage.

5. Five Stages of Fluency 1. Preproduction 3. Speech Emergence 1-3 years:
0-6 months
No verbalization
2. Early Production
6 months – 1 year:
Limited to 1-2 word responses
Key words, familiar phrases
Present-tense
3. Speech Emergence
1-3 years:
Simple sentences
Grammar/pronunciation errors
4. Intermediate Fluency
3-5 years:
Few grammatical errors
5. Advanced Fluency
5-7 years:
Near-native level speech

6. Bloom’s Taxonomy

7. The “Silent Period”
When students are uncomfortable speaking a new language.
The duration of the silent period for each student can vary from a few days to a year.
Causes
Shy personality
Culturally unacceptable for women to speak up
Remedies
Speaking in small groups
Hands-on activities

8. Works Cited
Hill, Jane D., and Cynthia L. Bjork. Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners Facilitator's Guide. Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning Print. ers/The-Stages-of-Second-Language-Acquisition.aspx
Hayes, Judie. Preproduction and the Silent Period Apr Web. ilent_period_93415.php